“I’ll not go back to that chamber,” she said stubbornly. “When I woke, I worried that you were still angry with me and that I’d been banished from our chamber. ’Tis not a feeling I ever want to experience again.”

His eyes went soft and he gently rolled her so that she lay beside him on the bed. He fussed and rearranged the furs, making sure she was comfortable and without pain. How could she think of pain when the husband she thought lay dying was staring at her with love in his eyes?

“If I have my way, we’ll never be separated again,” he said. “God’s teeth, Rionna. You frightened at least a decade from my life. I was so worried for you and our babe.”

Rionna’s hand went automatically to her stomach, her expression panicked.

Caelen laid his hand over hers and she calmed. “Aye, our bairn is still there, wedged in his mother’s womb. I’ve no doubt that he or she is every bit the fierce warrior that their mother is.”

“Tell me what happened,” she said, as he turned on his side next to her. “So much is a blur. I don’t remember much of the battle. I was so terrified.”

He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead as if he couldn’t bear not to touch her.

“You were magnificent. You saved me. ’Tis a fact I’ll not forget in this lifetime. You led our clan into battle. You were the fiercest warrior princess that ever was.”

She frowned and looked suspiciously up at him. “How came you by that term?”

He smiled. “Keeley told me of your childhood dreams. Aye, Rionna, you’re my warrior princess.”

Her heart melted and she sighed at the adoration in her warrior’s eyes.

“I’m ashamed that for so long I tried to mold you into someone else,” he said with a grimace. “But ’tis the truth, from the first day I saw you attired in those trews and a man’s tunic, wielding a sword as deftly as any warrior, I wanted you so badly I ached with it. I thought if I forced you to be something you were not, ’twould temper my fierce need for you.”

“Perhaps you recognized in me the mirror of yourself. Your other half,” she whispered.

“Aye, I did, but I fought it. But no more.”

“Then you’ll let me fight alongside you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.